A meeting of Dorstone Parish Council was held in the Old School Hall Dorstone on
Wednesday January 11th 2023 at 7-30pm
Present; Councillor T Usher, Chairman, Councillor T Arnott, Councillor A Phillips Councillor D Phillips, & Mr C Hendy Parish Council Clerk.
Also, present Councillor J Hewitt, Ward Councillor for part of meeting,
Apologies
Councillor Aubrey-Cosslett, unwell, Councillor B James, unwell, Golden Valley Police, no availability. Ward Councillor J Hewitt, family illness
No declaration of interest made.
The minutes of December 14th 2022 having been circulated, were approved
Reports:
Ward Councillor, January report received & circulated, possible return for funding of lengthsmen scheme, Ward Councillors draft response on Agricultural supplementary planning document.
Golden Valley Police, January report circulated, the reports will now be bi-monthly
Planning
a) Planning Consultation
APPLICATION NO & SITE ADDRESS: Planning Consultation - 223872 - Oak House, Dorstone, Hereford, Herefordshire HR3 6AP
DESCRIPTION: Proposed installation of 13 ground mounted Solar PV Panels in a single row in the garden at the rear (South) of the house
Application with Councillor E Wright
No letters of support or objection received, councillors resolved to support the application
APPLICATION NO & SITE ADDRESS: Planning Consultation - 224023 - Little Bage, Dorstone, Hereford, Herefordshire HR3 5SU
DESCRIPTION: Proposed change of use of storage area to bedroom accommodation for use in association with holiday let/ancillary accommodation
Application with Councillor A Phillips
No letters of support or objection received, councillors resolved to support the application.
b) Agriculture Planning Supplementary planning document consultation extended to 24 February 2023.
Finance
a) Clerks’ salary December £128.44
b) Lengthsmen invoice £136.
Both payments authorised
c) To consider the updates from Herefordshire Association Local Councils, recommended increase in Clerk salary by £1 hour backdated to 1st April. Due to some councillors unable to attend agreed to defer to next meeting.
Failure of the main water system in the parish on Sunday December 19th, majority of supplies returned on Wednesday December 21st.
The problem covered a large area of Wales, however no initial acknowledgement from Welsh Water of the problem in Dorstone & other parts of Herefordshire. Failure was attributed to burst pipes following heavy freeze & rapid thaw. Initially some bottled water was distributed, stocks soon ran out, many households buying water with stocks of water sourced by parishioners travelling around the area to obtain bottled water & left in the village for collection.
Support requested from Herefordshire Council, none given.
On Thursday December 22nd Councillor Usher included the following in The Blast
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your help during the crisis. As usual in the absence of external assistance the community has pulled together to help ourselves.
I’d like to make a special shout out to:
Tom Arnott, for your email to Jesse Norman MP and input to the Hereford Times
Lisa Aubrey-Cosslett, for your work contacting BBC Hereford and Worcester and getting the word out on social media
David Phillips, for your early efforts to stimulate action in the community and work disseminating news on social media and coordinating parishioner support.
Chris Hendy, for your advice and efforts with the Council bringing the Ward Councillor into the loop.
Karen Usher, for your pivotal work with Jesse Norman and, through him regional managers at Welsh Water. Also, the many updates to the community via the DFR Blast.
I’d like to thank Mike Pearce for all his efforts dropping drinking water in our porch for pickup by parishioners. After the many bottles dropped off, we have just 4 left this morning. Also, Mark Worsley for his sterling efforts bring a 1000ltr water trailer to a distribution the DFR car park yesterday.
There are probably many acts of kindness that I am unaware of, so thanks to them also.
Finally, I’d like to thank our MP, Jesse Norman, who, after receiving information regarding our plight, dropped everything to work the phones on Tuesday night, contacting senior management Welsh Water. This proved instrumental in the rapid change in our circumstances during Wednesday.
In contrast to this, nothing heard from Herefordshire Council!”
Councillors thanked Councillor Usher for coordinating the efforts in trying to resolve the emergency situation.
Dorstone resilience plan following the closure of DFR & the recent failure of the mains water system councillors considered recommencing producing a plan
In February 2020 Councillor D Phillips attended a meeting on Resilience Plan, information on the meeting was circulated, he subsequently produced a draft plan, Councillors agreed to produce a plan for Dorstone, clerk to contact Herefordshire Council for support. Unfortunately, COVID came along and no action was taken.
After discussion Councillors agreed the clerk should contact the Emergency Planning team, enquiring if the plan template has been updated & if they would be willing to assist in producing a plan
Highways
Update on cleaning the Ponty Weston stream bridges in the village
Information from Herefordshire Council
"The Flood and Water Management Act amended the Land Drainage Act – since 6 April 2012, Lead Local Flood Authorities have taken over from the Environment Agency the role of providing consent for works on ordinary watercourses. Herefordshire Council is the Lead Local Flood Authority for Herefordshire.
Specifically, under Section 23 of the Land Drainage Act 1991, the erection or alteration of any mill dam, culvert, weir or other like obstruction to the flow of an ordinary watercourse requires consent from the Lead Local Flood Authority. Therefore, those who wish to make changes to an ordinary watercourse must gain written consent from us prior to carrying out such works. The process consists of issuing consents for acceptable work and undertaking enforcement action as appropriate to deal with unacceptable activities. Not all work requires ordinary watercourse consent. However, consent is required for both permanent or temporary work that will impact the flow or storage of water, such as culverting, bridges, weirs.
Those who wish to make changes to an ordinary watercourse are therefore encouraged to contact us in advance of applying for consent so that we can discuss their requirements, provide advice and ensure that applications are completed correctly.
In terms of what you are trying to do we don’t consent maintenance works such as these that seek to re-instate the existing bank and bed profile, especially if it results in an overall betterment (i.e. restoring the flow of water). The exception to this would be if any proposed maintenance was of such a scale that the flow of water needed to be stemmed whilst undertaking the works (in such an instance, we would require a temporary works consent).
Note that ordinary watercourse consent does not absolve a person proposing to execute works from the need to obtain any other licences, consents or permissions which may be required by law – it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that any other necessary permission from other authorities or undertakers is obtained. For example, those proposing works need to plan them accordingly in order to mitigate Health and Safety risks. Furthermore, work on the banks of watercourses and in the channel can present ecological risks that would need to be identified and mitigated by those who plan the works.
I do hope that this clarifies our position and why we have concluded in this instance that ordinary watercourse consent is not required."
The Clerk had forwarded this to the Ecological Clerk of Works, his reply was “unless an Ordinary Water Consent is obtained, I will take no further part in the proceedings”.
During online meeting with Balfour Beatty (BB), also in attendance the Ward Councillor, discussion took place on the difficulties the parish council were having in attempting to have the work carried out, BB were asked to try & resolve this with a meeting of all parties.
During the online meeting a draft budget for funding for parishes with lengthsman, possible five years, was discussed. Possibly funding based on C & UC roads.
Balfour Beatty; Councillor Usher agreed to attend a Golden Valley Briefing on January 25th 2023 with Balfour Beatty
Herefordshire Council; Information circulated
a) Partnership Information bulletin
b) Talk Community
c) Leader’s newsletter November 2022 & December 2022
Date of next meeting; February 8th 2023